It’s a common misconception that hair is “dead.” Have you ever considered how a piece of hair can identify who you are? It holds all your DNA information just as your blood, skin cells, and saliva do. Your hair is connected to the nervous system and can be seen as exteriorized nerves, highly evolved feelers or antennae that pick up and transmit information to the brainstem, limbic system and neocortex.

For this reason, many Indigenous traditions honour hair as sacred, a living extension of our inner world that carries our thoughts, experiences and pasts. Over time, hair builds up energy, memory and stress, which is why we often feel compelled to cut or change it during major life transitions.

Cutting your hair can feel liberating, emotional and even traumatizing, as we are releasing a part of ourselves. It’s common to feel lighter afterwards, though the hair may not have been heavy, the energetic weight is gone. And just like any nervous system activating experience, a new haircut often takes time to integrate or “sit just right.”

Throughout time, people have turned to their hair as a powerful act of alchemy and that is the purpose here. When your hair is cut with reverence and intention it can mark the end of a chapter, offering you closure, healing and the beginning of something new.